“This is what I used to weigh when I was in my twenties,” the designer said. The doctor prescribed her semaglutide, which has since helped her reach 140 pounds. But because she was never asked to show the reading on her scale, she lied and said she was 200 pounds-which pushed her into the obese range. The doctor mailed her a blood pressure cuff and a scale to check her weight on the call. One Midwest designer, who asked me not to print her name, said she was technically overweight at 5 feet 7 and 190 pounds when she met with an obesity doctor over Zoom. Clients pay about $300–$600 a month for an off-brand prescription, and within a week the drug arrives at patients’ homes, usually in the form of a vial and a syringe.Īnd because many of these visits are done online, it’s easy to get around the guidelines. Medical spas, which sell Botox and fillers but are overseen by a physician, typically prescribe off-label semaglutide after a weight-loss consultation. While none of this is illegal, medical experts question the ethics of the off-label boom. A quick online search pulls up promises for same-day prescriptions with no office visits needed. Most get the Novo Nordisk knockoff from compounding pharmacies-places that mix and combine active ingredients to create custom formulations. Healthcare lawyer Harry Nelson says there are “well over 100” businesses across the U.S. So many in these circles are now on the drug that one New York socialite told me Ozempic is “old news.”īut that’s not the case for Barone, who feels as though she’s just discovered “liquid gold.” She and untold numbers of women, who work nine to five jobs but want to look like they spend all day at the gym, are going a different route for their fix. Neither is a problem for rich, connected people, who can cajole a prescription out of doctors willing to figure out how to put the tab on their insurance-or can just pay the price. Wegovy is even more expensive, with prices starting at $1,300, and it isn’t covered by most insurance plans. One Ozempic pen, which lasts about a month, costs around $1,000 before insurance. Ozempic and Wegovy, which come in the form of preloaded injection pens, both require a prescription. Its use became so prevalent that, last January, The New York Times heralded the rise of “ Ozempic face,” experienced by those who’ve lost so much weight on the drug they’re now injecting filler to correct their “facial aging and sagging.” So were rich people in the Hamptons and the tech world, including Elon Musk. Hollywood elites were outed for using it. (Kristin Callahan via Alamy)Īs the rumors kept growing, Ozempic quickly became headline news as the magic bullet for getting skinny. TikTokers even claimed, with no proof, that semaglutide helped Kim Kardashian shed 16 pounds to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday” dress for the Met Gala (although she told Vogue it was a “sauna suit” and “strict” eating regime). While all credited their new shape to exercise and foods like grilled salmon, unfounded rumors on social media alleged that the real cause was Ozempic. Rebel Wilson and Mindy Kaling, who for years have admitted to struggles with their weight, are suddenly the smallest they’ve ever been. Khloé Kardashian, who once called herself the “ fat sister,” now has abs. Meanwhile, over the past year, the world has watched as some of our most famous celebrities started to shrink. In 2021, the FDA greenlit a higher dose semaglutide product, Wegovy-made by the same Danish manufacturer, Novo Nordisk-as an obesity treatment. But the drug came with an incredible side effect: rapid weight loss. Ozempic, taken once a week as a shot in the arm, stomach, or thigh, was first approved by the FDA in 2017 to lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. “I feel like I’m a drug addict-I want to, like, relapse,” she told me, laughing.īarone, 37, represents a new kind of Ozempic user, who gets the drug off-label from a medical spa that also provides Botox, fillers, and hair loss treatments-taking the drug far away from its medical roots and deep into the cosmetic sphere. But she can’t wait to get back on the drug, which, she says, still has the lingering effect of suppressing her appetite. She said she’s off the injections for now while she undergoes fertility treatment to freeze her eggs. She recently got down to 90 pounds from a high of around 120 on semaglutide, the active ingredient in the blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic. But not Kate Barone, an Atlanta-based salon owner who is 5 feet 1 with blonde hair down to her waist. It’s noon on a Wednesday, when most people would be eating lunch.
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